Russian State Media: Georgia War Started By Dick Cheney To Stop Obama
Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States.
The line came on the main news of Vesti FM, a state radio station that — like the Government and much of Russia’s media — has reverted to the old habits of Soviet years, in which a sinister American hand was held to lie behind every conflict, especially those embarrassing to Moscow. Modern Russia may be plugged into the internet and the global marketplace but in the battle for world opinion the Kremlin is replaying the old black-and-white movie.
The Obama angle is getting wide play. It was aired on Wednesday by Sergei Markov, a senior political scientist who is close to Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister and power behind President Medvedev.
“George Bush’s Administration is promoting interests of candidate John McCain,” said Dr Markov. “Defeated by Barak Obama on all fronts, McCain has one last card to play yet - the creation of a virtual Cold War with Russia . . . Bush himself did not want a war in South Ossetia but his Republican Party did not leave him any choice.” The Americans were now engineering an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Dr Markov added.
The Establishment and its media supporters are dusting off favourites from the Cold War shelf. Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, accused Washington of playing dangerous games. The West was guilty of “adventurism”, supporting aggression against peace-loving Russian forces who are engaged on a humanitarian mission to protect human life. Yesterday’s headline in Commersant, a generally admired newspaper, announced with old-style sarcasm the imminent American “Military Humanitarian Landing” in Georgia.
A classic of Soviet-speak also came from Vasili Lickhachev, a former Russian Ambassador to the EU. “The West has spent a lot of time, energy and money to teach Georgia the tricks of the trade . . . to make the country look like a democracy,” he said.
“We and many other nations see through this deceit. We understand that the seditious tactics of the so-called colour revolutions are a real threat to international law and the source of global legal nihilism.”
These grooves from the Cold War grave are shrugged off by many Russians but they strike a chord in a nation ready once again to see itself as the victim of outside conspiracy. Blogs everywhere attract conspiracy lovers but Russian blogs have been exceptionally rich this week in theories of Western skulduggery over Georgia.
The old thinking finds more fertile ground now because, in the view of disillusioned Russians, President Bush relaunched the ideological war through a compliant American media, especially at the time of the invasion of Iraq.
“In the old days under Soviet rule we didn’t believe a word of our own propaganda but we thought that information was free in the West and we longed for it,” said Katya, a middle-aged Muscovite. “But we have learnt since that the West has its own propaganda and in some ways it is more powerful because people believe it.”
Moscow is using novel methods to spread a very unsubtle, Cold War version of the Caucasian conflict to the world. Chief among them is Russia Today, a state 24-hour news channel that is fronted much of the time by cheery British and other English-speaking television professionals.
The smiles and studio banter could come from BBC World or CNN but the story is unrelentingly the Kremlin version. Banners flash along at the bottom of the screen saying such things as “genocide” and “aggression” or “city turns into human hell, many people still trapped under rubble”. Recapping the conflict yesterday RT’s presenter said that Georgia’s “brutal assault” had killed 1,600 civilians in its breakaway province in a campaign that destroyed 70 per cent of the buildings in Tskhinvali, its capital. Russian forces had moved in only to bring peace as Georgian forces killed women and children who were trying to flee, it said. Throughout its rolling cover of alleged Georgian atrocities, there was no mention of the heavy Russian military offensive.
The coverage goes down well in developing countries that want an alternative to CNN and BBC World Service, a Russian official said. “We have learnt from Western TV how to simplify the narrative.”
The Soviet crackdown
— In January 1968 Alexander Dubcek became First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, instituting the “Prague Spring” liberalising reforms
— In August the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invaded, below, claiming that its assistance had been requested by Communist Party leaders. Dubcek was arrested
— Lyndon Johnson, the US President, declared the invasion in violation of the United Nations Charter, but America was in the middle of a presidential election campaign and a war in Vietnam. The West took no action
— In 1988 mass demonstrations marked the anniversary
— The Communists were finally ousted in 1989 and Václav Havel was elected President in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. Soviet forces withdrew in 1991
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
I’ve heard a lot of stupid shit in my life, but I have to put this right up there in the top 10…
August 14th, 2008 at 8:18 pmumm ok. thats very…..interesting.
everything in the world is President Bush and VP Dick Cheney’s fault. everyone knows that.
stupid ass commies. I wish we were in a position to kick the shit out of them right now, then they could blame that on whoever the hell they wanted to.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:22 pmBaghdad Bob = Moscow Mark
August 14th, 2008 at 8:25 pmSo…. the Russians wanna be KosKids too?
August 14th, 2008 at 8:26 pmMoscow really wants Obama don’t they
August 14th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Moscow wants an appeaser!
August 14th, 2008 at 8:28 pmYou know what … actually, the old Soviet Union had bigger balls ,,, demanded more respect.
Yeah, when they stormed into a country, fucked the hell out of it, and stuck it in their back pockets they shrugged at the rest of the world and said, “Yeah, we saw it … and we wanted it … and we took it … fuck you.”
This neo-Soviet Union has to smirk, “They made us do it …”
Ball-less, dick-less Puties …
August 14th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Sully–only they call them Cossack Kids
August 14th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
sierrahome… yeah 
…. Kos had this same theme running over the weekend… Cheney didit… the quotes from Russians are oddly similar to DailyKos and Democratic Underground comments.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:47 pmMakes sense though. They’re all Commies and hate America.
I haven’t heard stupider propaganda in my life.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:50 pmtheir left wing site is called dailycossack.com lol
i wonder if they have a little gay Salvadoran guy running the site like the other one does.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:50 pmnow who has the brain tumors?
August 14th, 2008 at 9:14 pmIn 2007, new managers who were “allies of the Kremlin” took over Russia’s largest independent radio news network. They demanded that the Russian News Service portray the U.S. as an “enemy.” In addition, “at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia [must] be positive…and opposition leaders [cannot] be mentioned on the air.”
At this time, the “three national television networks [were} already state controlled.” (NYT, 4-22-2007)
So much for glasnost.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:15 pmIt’s USA’s fault. What else is new? Let’s blame USA because we can’t handle it!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pmDid anyone catch this little phrase…
“The Americans were now engineering an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Dr Markov added.”
Did Dr Strangelove just signal Russia’s next move?
August 14th, 2008 at 9:29 pmI’ll bet you dollars to donuts they got the idea from reading the daily kos last weekend.
Good lookin’ out, good call.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:18 pmYou sure this wasn’t a Reid press release? Why do Democrats sound like Communists?
August 14th, 2008 at 11:10 pmwhat a wonderful world,
I notice that papy is a fidel kos’
August 15th, 2008 at 12:05 amYeah Gates sure sent a chill up the ruskie spine with that remark about 35 cold war years with out actual combat why would we want to ruin that.
Pussies surrounded by pussies
Hows this for a military vision, squadrons of predators driving the jerks back home and none of the good guys get hurt.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:06 amSo Cheney started the Georgia Conflict to ensure McCain gets into office because every voting US citizen - Democrat, Republican…whomever - acknowledges Obama’s a complete idiot who doesn’t know sheet-from-shinola especially on matters of national security and defense?
Is that the…uh…story - or something close? Crap…I just can’t make-it through an article like that.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:14 amThe wost thing about this story is that stupid dems in the country will believe this crap. It’s very obvious that the dems use those same propaganda policies the old USSR used.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:04 amR
August 15th, 2008 at 3:56 amO
F
L
Not only did the Russians read this on DKos, I’m sure they have operatives within all the leftest web sites.
Daily Kos Huffington Post, etc etc etc….communist, chi coms, radical islam all are allies.
Remember that Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, etc etc etc are all friends of the enemies of America.
By the way, the left protects the financial funding of all these communist and Islamic states via the Oil markets.
American are forced to fund our enemies via Democrat legislation.
This is not unplanned.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:21 amRussia doesn’t want Hussein any more than we do. They’re probably the most racist people out there.
black people in St. Petersburg are a sideshow attraction.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:22 amNot only did the Russians read this on DKos, I’m sure they have operatives within all the leftest web sites as workers and members.
Daily Kos Huffington Post, etc etc etc….communist, chi coms, radical islam all are allies.
Remember that Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, etc etc etc are all friends of the enemies of America.
By the way, the left protects the financial funding of all these communist and Islamic states via the Oil markets.
American are forced to fund our enemies via Democrat legislation.
This is not unplanned.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:45 amWhile we are on conspiracy theories, here’s a piece on Soro’s involvment.
http://www.rense.com/general83/soros.htm
August 15th, 2008 at 5:18 amSeems ol’ Pat Buchanan has gotten into the “Blame the USA” act too:
http://townhall.com/Columnists/PatrickJBuchanan/2008/08/15/blowback_from_bear-baiting
Idiot.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:50 amDick Cheney sure has a lot of clout. At a mere suggestion they were willing to sacrifice a few thousand citizens just for our political campaign. I guess if you believe this your pretty much beyond reasoning with.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:02 amAre these talking points originating from Russia or Kos?
I posted this article on another thread and meant to post it here….
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121876037443642795.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Soros is a “dedicated Socialist”. Saakishvili was a ’stepping stone’ to achieving that end, not the end itself. Easier to ‘convert’ a liberal Democracy to his worldview than the previous Georgian regime that was too familiar with Communism. IMO anyway.
Buchanan is a fool. Townhall needs to dump his anti-semite ass.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:08 amI don’t f$#%@ng care!! If it’s even remotely true I say “Excellent, very very excellent, I like the way you think.” Whatever it takes.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:57 am@ sully,
Could’nt agree with you more. I wonder how long Soro’s will last if Russia has knowledge.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am“I posted this article on another thread and meant to post it here….”
http://nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=19454
August 15th, 2008 at 9:29 amNo it was Rumsfeld.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:30 amWow Communist Russia REAAAALLLY want’s one of their own as POTUS, don’t they?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm“In 2007, new managers who were “allies of the Kremlin” took over Russia’s largest independent radio news network. They demanded that the Russian News Service portray the U.S. as an “enemy.” In addition, “at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia [must] be positive…and opposition leaders [cannot] be mentioned on the air.”
I believe this is the wording for the Fairness Doctrine
August 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm[…] my favorite news of the day has to be that the Russians are promoting the idea that Cheney is behind all this: Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South […]
August 16th, 2008 at 8:20 am